Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-04
AN ACTIVE CHURCH.
DIR. FALMAGG DISCOURSRS on OUR RELI
~GIOUS NEEDS.
Whs; Characteristics a Live Church Possesses
PuDcuaIty, Harmony, FlOurishing Sabbath
School, Appropriate Architecture-A
SCul-Saying Church.
Special Tslegam 10 ge Register.

the west, after an absence OF nearly three
weeks, in which he preached and lectured
in fifteen cities to immense throngs. A
vast congregation was present at the Ia
bernacle this morning, and Joined with
fine effect in singing the hymn which be-
gins:
Jesus shall reign where er the sun
Does his successive journeys run
DR.. Talmage's subject was: "A Live
Church, A" and his text Revelation, Ch. ii,
verses 8 and 8: unto the angel Of the
Church in Smyrna write: These things
saith the first and the last, which was
dead, and is alive: know thy works,
and tribulations and poverty, but thou art
rich"
SMYRNA
was great city of the ancients, bounded
on three sides by mountains. 1t was the
central emporium of the Levantine trade.
In that prosperous and brilliant city there
was Christian Church established. After
it had existed for awhile, it was rocked
down by an earthquake. 1t was rebdilt.
Then it was consumed by a conaagratiOn
that swept over the entire city. That
Church went through 6re, and trouble and
disaster, but kept on to great spiritual
disaster. The fact was, that Church had
the grace of God, an ever active principle.
Had it been otherwise, all the grandeur OF
architecture and all the pOmp of surround
ings would only have been the ornament
of death-the garlands of coffin, the
plumes of a hearse.
1t may be profitable to consider what
are the elements of live Church.
remark in the first place, that one char
aCteristic of such Church is
PUNCTUALITY
III meeting its engagements. All ecclesi-
astical institutions have financial rela-
tiOns, and they ought to meet their obli-
cations Just AS certainly as men meet
their obligations at the bank When a
Church Of God is not as faithful in its
promises rs the Bank of England, it ceases
To be Church of God. 1t ought to be I'M
derstOod that prayers cannot paint a
church, and prayers cannot pay the win
ter's coal bill, aud prayers cannot meet
the Insurance.; and that, while prayers
can do thousand things, there are Il
thousand things that prayers cannot do.
Prayer for any particular Church will
never reach heaven high unless it goes
down pocket deep. In my Church at
the West, there was = man of UOmtOrUa-
BILE means, who used 10 pray for
his pastor in such elongated style that he
became nuisance 10 the prayer-meeting;
asking God, in . prayer that WIS almost
without ceasing, that the pastor might be
blessed in his basket and in his store
while the fact was he never paid anything
Ii We pray for the advancement of the
Church, and do not out of our means con
tribute for its advancement, our prayer is
only mOckery. Let the Church of God
then meet its obligations on the outside,
and let the members of the congregation
meet the obligations on the inside, and the
Church will be financially prosperous.
Let the say, also, that there must he
PUNCTUALITY IL THE ATTENDANCE
on the house of the Lord. If the service
begins at .half-past ten in the morning, the
regular congregation of a live Church
will not come at a quarter to eleven.
If the service is to begin at half
past seven in the evening, the regular
congregation of a live Church will not
come at a quarter to eight. In some
Churches have noticed the people are al
ways tardy. There are some people who
are always late They were born too late,
and the probability is they will die toe
late. The rustling of dresses up the aisle,
and the slamming OF doors, and the tread
ing of heavy feet. is poor inspiration for a
minister 1t requiers great abstraction in
pastors mind TO proceed with the preli-
minary exercises of the Church when one
half OF the audience seated are looking
around to see the other half come in.
Such difference OF attendance upon the
house of God may be difference of time,
pieces; but the live Church of which | am
speaking ought to go by railroad time, and
that is pretty well understood in all our
communities.
There is one hymn that ought to be sung
in great many Christian families on Sab
bath morning:
"Esrly, my God, without delay,
! haste TO Geek Thy place
Another characteristic of live Church is
the fact that
ALL THE PEOPLE PARTICIPATE
in the exercises. 4 stranger can tell by
the way the first tune starts whether there
is any life there. A Church that does not
sing is a dead Church. 1t isawful to heal
cold drizzle of music coming down from
the organ loft, while all the people beneath
sit in SILENCE When a tune Wanders around
lonely and unhefTiended, and is finally
lost amid the arches because the people do
not Join in it, there is not much melody
made unto the Lord. In heaven they all
sing, though some there cannot sing bal
AS we'll as others. The Methodist Church
has sung all around the world, and gone
from conquest to conquest, among other
things, because il is singing Church; and
any Christian Church organization that
with enthusiasm performs this part
OF It's duty viii 20 On fom
triumph to triumph. A Church
of God that can sing, can do anything that
ought to be done We 90 forth into this
holy war with the Bible in one hand and q
hymn-bOok in the other. o! We who used
to sing the praises of the Lord, and have
got ont of the habit, take your harps down
from the willows. | am glad TO know that,
as q Church, we are making advancement
in this respect. When ] came TO be your
pastor we had an excellent choir in the
little chapel, and they sang very sweetly
to US Sabbath by Sabbath; hut ever and
anon there was trouble, for you know that
the chOirs in the Uuited States are the
WaterloOs where the great battles go on.
One Sunday they will sing like angels, and
the next Sunday they will he mad, and
will not sing at all. We resolved to settle
all the difficulties, and have one skillful
man at the organ, and one man 10 DO the
work Of precentOr; and now, from Sab
bath to Sabbath, the song comes mp like
the voice of mighty thundetings.
LET those refuse To sing
Who never knew our God;
But children of the Heavenly King
Should speak their joys abroad
On the way to triumph that never ends
and pleasures that never die-sing
Another Characteristic Of live Church